¿Puede llevar zapatos de una otra persona?

Para mis Hermanos Hispanos,

(ENGLISH TRANSLATION FOLLOWS)

Soy un Estadounidense y vivo en Arizona. He estudiado español más que doce años y yo soy un pastor de una Iglesia Cristiano. Soy también Caucásico con raíces alemanas si que importa. Comprendo toda la ira y frustracion en SB1070 y las leyes que han sido entrados los últimos años. Yo no apoyo muchas de estas leyes y yo no concuerdo con Russell Pierce en la mayoría de las cosas. En mi opinion, yo creo que el es una racista y yo pienso que el esconde su racismo detrás de la ley.*

Pero, esto debe ser dicho.

Si estas honesto, entonces sabes que el problema de inmigración ilegal es un problema de derechos humanos. La esclavitud, el robo, la violación de mujeres, las drogas, la violencia, el asesinato, y el riesgo de la muerte en el desierto es implicado todo aquí. Si tu no quieres las leyes que han sido pasadas contra inmigración ilegal, entonces debes provear respuestas a estos problemas.

No no es suficiente para acusar todos los Arizonans del racismo si no puedes resolver o no resolverá estos asuntos.

¿Dónde se paras en los derechos humanos de la familia que se muere de sed en el desierto?

¿Qué respuestas das a la chica adolescente violada por un coyote cruzando la frontera?

¿Qué dices al hombre que es forzado a trabajar como un esclavo aquí en Estados Unidos porque su esposa es una rehén?

Los derechos humanos están en los dos lados de este asunto.

Este asunto es más grande que construyendo una pared en la frontera o un programa de trabajadorer braceros.

Este asunto es más grande que republicanos o demócratas.

Este asunto es más grande que respuestas sencillas y cantar esloganes.

Este asunto es más grande que piel café o blanca.

Tenemos que caminar en cada otros zapatos y trabajar conjuntos para entender.

Derechos humanos pertenecen a todos.

Somos todos ninos de Dios.

¿Qué harás para hacer paz?

*Nota: No creo que todas que apoyan SB1070 y leyes similares son racistas y creo es incorrecto para acusarlos todos.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

Can you wear someone else's shoes?

To my Hispanic Brothers,

I am a United States citizen and I live in Arizona. I have studied Spanish for more than 12 years and I am a pastor of a Christian Church. I am also white with German roots if that matters. I understand all of the anger and frustration about SB1070 and the laws that have been passed these last years. I don’t support many of thes laws and I don’t agree with Russell Pierce about most things. In my opinion, I believe that he is a racist and that he hides his racism behind the law.*

But, this must be said,

If you are honest, then you know that the problem of illegal immigration is a problem of human rights. Slavery, robbery, rape, drugs, violence, murder, and the risk of death in the desert is involved in all of this. If you don’t want the laws that have been passed against illegal immigration, then you must provide an answer to these problems.

It is not enough to accuse all Arizonans of racism if you cannot solve or will not solve these issues.

Where do you stand on the human rights of the family that dies of thirst in the desert?

What answer do you give to the young girl raped by a coyote when crossing the border?

What do you say to the man who is forced to work as a slave here in the U.S. because his wife is held hostage?

Human Rights are on both sides of this issue.

This issue is bigger than building a wall on the border or a guest worker program.

This issue is bigger than republicans or democrats.

This issue is bigger than simple answers or chanted slogans.

This issue is bigger than brown or white skin.

We have to walk in each other’s shoes and work to understand each other.

Human rights belong to everyone.

We are all God’s children.

What will you do to make peace?

* Note: I don’t believe that everyone who supports SB1070 and similar laws are racist and I believe it is wrong to accuse everyone of this.

Observations from the Front Porch

I sat on the front porch rail listening to Ken and Daniel strum their guitars. We waved periodically as people we knew walked past the cabin on their way back to their cabin or to the cafeteria. Occasionally someone would stop and talk for awhile, but often they just waved and went on their way.

Ken’s daughter Jennifer sat next to us weaving pine needles into a decorative garland that would have been at home on any Appalachian front porch.

Only…

We weren’t in the Appalachians. We were sitting on the front porch of the Nurse’s cabin at summer camp in Pine Summit Church Camp, Prescott, Arizona. Ken and Nancy, volunteers from our church, were the camp nurses. Daniel and his wife were also volunteers, leading praise music during sessions. And, the people walking by weren’t just our neighbors, they were the volunteers and youth at the church camp.

I had just spent a week in Durango, Colorado with a bunch of high school kids, living together in college dorms for the High School summer camp and now I was in Prescott with a hundred elementary and Junior High kids for their camps.

Spending a week with your fellow Christians at a church camp can be an amazing experience, not because of the highs of worship or excitement of rock walls and other adventure experiences, but because of the mundane things that we often miss in our frenzied life back home.

Traveling together, living in close quarters, and experiencing community on a small scale is powerful, in a way that you cannot understand until you have lived it.

There is something healthy about watching the senior pastor cross the hall with his towel and shower shoes, a days scruffy growth on his face and sleep in his eyes. It may not be pretty, but it makes him seem more human and definitely decreases the hero-worship factor that some try to cultivate.

Or, walking together down to the cafeteria to pray as a group and then going in to see what culinary surprises were in store today. Those short conversations on the road are the start of long friendships. At their camp, our high school group even visited the grocery store and then came back to their cabin to prepare a huge feast together where everyone did their part; there was more food than an army could eat. That shared meal together was a lifetime investment in just a few hours.

This sort of rubbing up against each other, living life in close proximity, is missing from our world and from our churches, especially in big cities. It is just this sort of shared life and transparency that leads to healthy relationships and personal growth. It’s harder to hide behind a mask when you sleep in the room next door to each other. It’s harder to pretend to be better than someone else when you just flushed the toilet two stalls down from them. Interpersonal skills, sharing, and forgiveness are all tested when you travel crammed together for days in a van. Mistakes are made, drama occurs, tears are shed, and yet, they are all dealt with and we grow…because, in close proximity, we have to. You don't get to run away and spread your drama on Facebook. You get to grow together here and now.

Shared jokes, small conversations, meals together, and late nights on the front porch together build strong communities. It’s just too bad that more people don’t experience this. Perhaps we need church camp for adults.

Truth Found in a Porta-John

The sounds of loud snoring came from the row of porta-johns as I went by. “That’s weird, I hope nothing’s wrong,” I thought. Then I decided, “Someone’s probably joking around, trying to freak people out,” and I went on by to return to my campsite.

To this day, I’m sorry that I did.

Several hours later, a woman came by our campsite. “Have any of you seen Petey?,”she asked.

None of us knew Petey and said so. She then told us that Petey was an old fella who was camping there that lots of people knew. “He’s not healthy,” she said, “and no one has seen him for hours. He has trouble getting around and has breathing problems.”

A terrible realization dawned on me as I told her about the sounds I had heard earlier.

When they checked the porta-johns, they found Petey. The sounds I had heard and ignored were the sounds of a man suffocating to death. After the door had closed, he had fallen in the little space between the door and the toilet and had been unable to get up, and so died suffocating in a porta-john.

I’m not entirely sure where this falls on the scale of ‘Bad ways to die,’ but I’m pretty sure it’s up there on the list.

Had I taken the time to investigate my suspicions, a man might not have died.

I bring this up because, this last Sunday, a woman was sitting in a pew at before church. It appeared she was sleeping and many people passed her by without noticing. Yes, I know it is customary to wait until the sermon to fall asleep, so this must have been unusual. Sharon, our church secretary didn’t pass by. She noticed that things weren’t right, and she saved a life. The lady wasn’t sleeping, she was in diabetic shock with blood glucose in the 20s!!! That’s barely enough to maintain life. If Sharon hadn’t taken the time to notice, then she could have died right then and there.

There is a lesson here that goes far past the issue of life and death. The deeper issue is our awareness of others around us. As we become more and more focused on ourselves and less aware of others, the sense of community dies. We become more and more separated and it becomes harder to care about anyone but ourselves.

Ecclesiastes describes this very situation almost 3000 years ago:

There was a man all alone;
He had neither son nor brother.
There was no end to his toil,
yet his eyes were not content with his wealth.
"For whom am I toiling," he asked,
"and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?"
This too is meaningless -- a miserable business!

Two are better than one.
Because they have a good return for their work:

If one falls down, his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!

Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?

Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Ecclesiastes 4:8-12

The need to be a part of a community, to be loved, to be cared about is deeply embedded in our soul. The challenge then is this: How do we get our eyes off of ourselves and on to others?

This is not an easy thing to do.

People are difficult. Humanity is messy.

The task is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. But what if our neighbor is a jerk? What if our family member is cruel? What if our coworker is weird?

It is a whole lot easier to love others if we can be truthful with ourselves. We too can be cruel, weird, and mean. If we can be loved, then we can love others.

I believe this is what the lies behind God’s call for us to love others. It is only by breaking out of our own selfishness and serving others that we begin to improve ourselves. Alone, we are nothing but self serving chemical reactions, but in a community, we become so much more.

Today, make it a point to love someone else.

It doesn’t matter if they share the same beliefs as you. Love them.

It doesn’t matter if they are nice to you. Reach out to them.

It doesn’t matter if they are outgoing or introverted. Pay attention to them.

It doesn’t matter if they have nothing to give back to you. Give to them.

Find yourself by serving others. It is an incredible gift to them and to yourself.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:3-4

The rest of the story:

Ironically, Petey turned out to be my first funeral as a minister. Because we were many miles back in the middle of nowhere, we had to wait for the Sheriff to come an investigate the death and the coroner to come and take Petey away. The lady who had originally come looking for Petey came back later and asked, “Wasn’t one of you a preacher or some such?” I said I was a new minister and she replied, “Well, we think Petey was a Presbyterian and figured he’d like it if someone said a few words.” So, 20 minutes later, I found myself doing an impromptu funeral in front of a porta-john, miles from civilization, with a newly dead body on the ground in front of me covered by a sleeping bag. Rest in Peace Petey.